Last month, Brooklyn-based Persian artist Aria Rostami dropped his latest album, Numb Years, on his own Intimate Inanimate label. The album was released with a poem and essay, in which Rostami talks about his parent’s immigrant experience, being part of the second generation, the events in the United States since the election, and what he’s learned from the untold stories about his aunt that was murdered before his father was born—all of which directly influenced the writing of the album, which took place following his move to Brooklyn, NYC. Here is an excerpt from the essay:

“On July 1st, 2017 I moved to Brooklyn, New York from San Francisco, California. I left a good paying job and a home city I grew to love over 11 years. I moved to New York City for an opportunity to make art and experience life that was not available in San Francisco. I got an entry level job that paid minimum wage and mostly lived off of savings. I was living like I was 20 all over again… two small meals a day to save money, working for 9 hours a day at a mind-numbing job, coming home and working on music until 5am… Really, music was the only balancing point of the whole experience. So I started making music that brought in the noise of New York… The shrieking and hissing of transit, it’s unavoidable, I hear it everywhere… I made an album in a month. “Numb Years” captures everything I felt in that concentrated period of time.”

With the above subject matter and the city of New York as a backdrop, Numb Years paints a dense and gritty picture filled with raw emotion and inviting depth, from the nostalgic beauty of “Where I Saw Naked Numb Years” to the tense and haunting “Where She Untied Warm Glowing Arms.”

In support of the LP, Rostami has offered up “And Nayereh Untied Green Limp Arms” as today’s XLR8R download, available via WeTransfer below.

You can pick up Numb Yearshere.

And Nayereh Untied Green Limp Arms